Whos there? Lightbeam; Watching your back when you are not

In age of increasing digital immersion, it is no surprise that privacy and security have become hot topics. In the past I used to surf the web “freely”, with my only concern being that of contracting a virus from a malicious mal-intended website. Today, my care free web surfing days are over and now I am traversing the digital landscape of 1’s and 0’s with my hood up and eyes peeled for third party leeches and ominously long term and condition agreements. The reality is that the digital landscape has changed, and so too must we adapt to the new environment.

For the past 20 minutes, I had the comfort of enjoying a nice sunset stroll through my favorite and most frequented tabs (shown) with the support of an application extension for Firefox web browser called Light beam. So here are my findings and observations (how scientific of me!)

What I find most interesting about my Lightbeam graph is that Facebook, a highly interconnected and interoperable program with other partnered websites that allow logins and sharing through Facebook, is isolated off the the top right of my graph. Whether this is in Mark Zuckerberg’s favor or not, is something too complex to answer in 400 words or less. Never the less a compelling piece of evidence.

Clearly Google, Pricebat (a price comparison search engine displayed as the small “angel” like figure), and Youtube generated the most third party attention. It is most certain that all three of these sites being search engines had something to do with the increased traffic but what is not clear through this graph is that when I went on those sites, I only did one search. To this effect, I am most candid on the sites that provide me with the most information. Sites like Facebook, which provided me with very select information (my friends sad personal lives) kept me the most “well hidden”. This to me is a paradox, because it is Facebook in which I am most publicized with a profile, pictures, posts and Google in which I am least (only attached my profile which has limited information and no connections attach to a social network).

My right to remain private and secure while I engage in online material seems to have me pinned between my candid profile of Facebook with few third party mosquitoes and Google with my less candid profile but the whole swarm. Both are integral to my surfing and web experience, but both provide, in a way, bookends that force me to tailor my surfing to certain times, with certain profiles and certain software to keep me anonymous.

The level of interoperability in regards to anonymity across the internet is a cause I believe worth fighting for but unfortunately it seems to be a cause not at the forefront of today’s Tech Giants, such as Google and Facebook.